Rangers stars got a culture shock in Berwick but gave me the night of my life says Steven Notman

Wee Rangers stalwart delighted Graeme Murty gave so many first team stars a runout during his testimonial but admits Shielfield Park clash was a bit of an eye opener for some of the Ibrox foreign legion.

Steven Notman admitted Berwick Rangers made it too easy for Fabio Cardoso on his return from injury as some of Rangers’ top-team stars came out of cold storage at shivering Shielfield Park.

But he reckons the Portuguese centre-back and the rest of Graeme Murty’s men will be better for their run-out when they return to Premiership action after the international break.

Murty watched some of his players warm up for tomorrow’s clash with Hamilton at Ibrox with a 4-0 win over the Borderers on a freezing night.

Gers fan Notman had the night of his life after Murty included some big names to face the League Two side for his testimonial match.

Fabio Cardoso returned from injury during Notman's testimonial (Image: SNS)

Cardoso played for an hour in his first game since the defender had his nose broken in the Betfred Cup semi-final defeat to Motherwell.

Central defensive partner David Bates netted the first before on-loan Manchester City winger Aaron Nemane netted a second and Serge Atakayi and Jordan Thompson scored in the second half to round off a comfortable win.

Notman admitted the surroundings were a bit of a culture shock for Gers but said: “It was a good occasion and it was a decent turnout considering it was a cold night.

“Fabio Cardoso was obviously returning from injury and he looked decent but we didn’t cause him or David Bates too many problems.

“I wish we had tested them a bit more but it was difficult for us as well because we’ve got a massive Scottish Cup tie away to Arbroath on Saturday.

“There’s a bit of competition in central defence with Cardoso, Bruno Alves, Ross McCrorie and Danny Wilson, so we’ll see who plays on Saturday.

“I’m not sure a lot of the new boys signed up for a Wednesday night at Shielfield Park when they joined Rangers but they seemed to enjoy their run-out.

“It’s a bit of a trek and was probably a bit of an eye opener. But it shows their character and they were up for it.

“The surface was half decent and it was a good work-out so I’m sure they got plenty out of it – even if our dressing rooms were a bit of a culture shock!

“The development team are playing against English and European teams this season so playing sides like us will maybe show them a different side and help them man up a bit.

“We’d only conceded two goals in seven games prior to the game but we conceded a few slack goals. I was impressed with a few of their younger boys, the winger Aaron Nemane and Jordan Thompson who scored the fourth was really good.

Notman was delighted at getting to face his Rangers heroes (Image: SNS)

“He started in central midfield and moved to left-back and I was really impressed with him. He was at Manchester United and you could see his class.”

Notman was grateful to Rangers and Murty for agreeing to take part in his 10th year at Berwick and said: “The crowd was around 600 plus corporate which was decent for a midweek.

“I played with Craig Robertson at Vale of Leithen and he now works in the youth department at Murray Park.

“He said to me to give him a shout if I fancied playing the Rangers Development side in my testimonial. But on Monday they added a handful of first-team players and I’m grateful.

“When I heard the news of the first-team players I thought it would pull in a few more punters.

Graeme Murty used the Berwick game to give players returning from injury a runout (Image: SNS Group)